Yesterday's meal

Yesterday the whole family went out to eat at this restaurant
in S. Lucia del Mela.
It's up in the mountains. Beautiful location.

The whole restaurant was set up for banquets. Must be a busy time.
We were seated on the left side of this room.
There was a huge room upstairs.
A very nice place.

Of course I didn't think to start taking photos of
the food until after the antipasto course.
The next course was this delicious shrimp risotto.
The food was served by the wait staff. They
brought around platters of food and served everyone.

Then we were served pappardelle in a Marsala wine
sauce with mushrooms. It was very good.

Next was the first meat course. This they brought out on plates,
one plate for 2 people. On it were spiedini, sausage, lamp chops and lemons.
This meat was grilled. Delish!

The next meat course was agnello al forno (baked lamb)
with potatoes and carrots.

This was the wine we drank along with water and coke.

After a bit they brought us fruit cups and
then some of us got cake, which I didn't care for.

Then coffee and amaro.
We were all so stuffed! It was a great day even though
We had to miss the Formula One race.

Cherry Dessert

I got a half of a kilo of cherries at the mercato on Wednesday. What was i going to do with them??? So I cleaned and pitted them and put them in a small pot with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and let them boil for a few minutes.
I mixed up an all purpose cake batter.

1 1/4 c flour
1 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 c oil, I used light in flavor olive oil
3/4 c milk

Mix together in one large bowl. Then add the cherry mixture. Pour in a baking pan. It will be thin. Bake at 350F/160C for about a half hour. Enjoy!

Note: I would have added a tsp of almond extract but I didn't have any!

It's really good. You can exclude the cherries and add 2 tsp of lemon zest for a lemony dessert.

Pears

This is a shot of the tree in our yard. Pears are coming. I don't like them but I like to see things growing. The fig tree has figs and the grape vine is doing fine!! I'm a poet!! But we won't be eating any of these because we will be gone by the time they ripen.... Oh well!

Car Wash!

One of the business ideas we had before we came here was to build a car wash. Frank's family said that would never work here. Then a few months ago this place was being built.
It's a car wash! There is a huge one in Barcellona P.G. and it is always full!

Vacuums
I love that building in the background.
It must have been a beauty in it's day.

Automatic washer. Notice the parked car...
barely enough room to get by.

Self service washing

These are the coins that operate the machines.
On the sides they look like keys.
The name of the car wash is Atlantic, hmmmm.

Falcone Beach

Yesterday we went to Falcone and walked on the beach. It has sand. That's a rarity here. It felt really weird getting sand on my feet. Yesterday was a beautiful day.

Capo Calava

We drove out to this place and took a little video.

This past weekend...

Early Thursday afternoon we lost our phone line which includes our internet connection! The whole weekend w/o a phone or computer!!! It wasn't that bad! lol
No one calls us anyway!
Saturday we decided to take a ride and we got stopped by the carabinieri.

They routinely pull cars over (here in Sicily) and check the paperwork. Since we are moving back to the US, we are not going to get Italian drivers licenses. That was the only thing they said that Frank needed to do since the International DL was running out in October. I think they were surprised that Frank had a carta d'identita, which is the official ID for citizens. I have one too!

This photo does not resemble the men here. They were dressed in the complete uniform. They looked pretty spiffy! Even with the sidearms! AND they drive this car!An Alfa Romeo...which is like the cops in PA driving a Lexus. It is an expensive car. They were very nice and the whole thing took just a few minutes and then we were on our way.

Pay It Forward or Pass It On?

Read this story - http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/051910dnmetgive.3b08e43.html?npc

It will change your day!

Space Shuttle

Have your children seen a space shuttle take off into space? I ask this because Atlantis went up the other day for the last time. Only 2 more shuttles will blast off into space and then the program will be over! My youngest had never seen this. We watched it together and she thought it was cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzfD9Ewl1Jc

Boy was I praying that it wouldn't explode! Remember Challenger?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JOjcDFtBE

I am surprised that the American schools don't take a minute to turn on the TVs and let the children watch history being made. Why? I think it's important. Do you?
While I was growing up in the 60's going into space was a BIG DEAL! It was exciting. We had space food and trips to the Johnson Space Center. Now what is there? Do kids today know who was the first American in space or even that the Americans weren't the first people in space? Who were the first men on the moon?

Check out the videos with your kids! The internet is so wonderful for things like this!!

Primary Day in Pennsylvania

If I was in PA I would not be voting since Independents aren't allowed to vote in primaries. What a shame that is but I hope that the Democrats are not casting their votes for Arlen Specter. The man is 80 years old and has been in the Senate since 1980. Time to stay home!

He was a Democrat, then switched to Republican, then last year jumped back to be a Democrat. What is up with that?? He's a flip-flopper!

He voted for every TARP and Bailout that came down the line.

I don't know much about Sestak but he's got to be a better choice!

Caleca Dishes

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/marisol-dinnerware-place-setting/?pkey=cdinnerware|tbldnwset

Check out these dishes. They are made in Patti just down the road from us. They are only sold in the US by Williams Sonoma.

??

I haven't had much to write lately because we haven't been doing anything. We are NOT patiently waiting for Frank to get his last paycheck. It is ridiculous that he has to beg for what he is owed!
We watched the Formula One race yesterday. One guy from our team, Ferrari, got 2nd place. Yahoo!!!
On Friday, we drove to Milazzo so Frank could visit his former employer. I noticed that the oleanders planted in the median strip have started to bloom. Colors range from white to fuschia. It's very pretty. It will be stunning when the shrubs are loaded with flowers.

They came!

The movers got here last night! Yahoo. They weren't allowed to leave Calabria over the holiday weekend. The woman in the UK was wrong! It kills me when people insist on something that you know deep down cannot be correct!
The boxes are gone and will soon be on their way back to the US! I hope they get there before we do!

What's up? Niente!!

The movers were supposed to be here over the weekend. No phone call or anything. BUT we had a holiday on Saturday. But still it would have been nice to get a call. This is the stuff that bothers me. If you make an appointment you should keep it! Maybe we will hear something today!